Hiku said:
Aeolus451 said:
I believe that the majority of healthcare is a service and sickly people are not entitled to it at the expense of everyone. No one is stopping you from making more money to buy what you want. Change plans or something. I do need some stuff done that's expensive but I don't think I'm entitled to it at no cost to me. Life saving treatments/meds/procedure are the only things I consider that people have an entitlement with at low cost.
In my opinion, insurance companies are the main contributing factor in why healthcare is so expensive. I think the healthcare insurance system needs to be reworked to reduce the costs and change what's covered or done away with completely. Maybe replace it with a cash only/affordable financing for expensive treatments. I noticed that most of the meds/treatments not covered by insurance are priced reasonably. I completely disagree with UHC. Just because some people are doing something doesn't make it the smart or right choice.
|
You seem to have an inaccurate impression of what UHC does.
"but I don't think I'm entitled to it at no cost to me"
That's not how it works. Where did you hear this?
In Sweden, our medicine only gets subsidized to $0 for the rest of the year once we've paid up to a certain cap during that year. In this case it's $225 USD. Once you pay $225 for medicine during a year, you get it for free for the rest of the year. Before that it gets gradually subsidized until it finally reaches 0. Next year it resets, until you've paid $225 again.
This is currently the system that some healthcare works within the US, the cap is much larger as for my insurance its 1,500. My company puts into my Medical Spending Account 1,000 and I regularly put into it every pay check. If I have any out of pocket medical expense that exceed 1,500 for the year, then all my medical expenses for the year is covered 100%. This was one of the changes made during Obamacare to my insurance.
There's no "at no cost to me."
The vast majority of people will not need to spend more than $225 a year for prescription medicine. And this is NOT including costs of doctors visits, which is treated a separate expense.
Even though doctors visits are significantly cheaper than they can be in the US, at no point do people feel like they're not losing money by visiting a doctor.
Currently because of insurance, you will see Doctor's visit cost for basic things off the charts in the US. For my wife who has diabetes, the doctor checked her levels using the same device she use at home. One day, I happen to read the insurance benefits letter I get where they tell you what they covered and how much they covered compared to the things they turned down. For that test, the Doctor charged 60 bucks. Looking at the other charged it was off the chart for the visit and other simple things they charge.
So no one in my family has EVER visited a doctor due to a cold or the flue. Nor has anyone even gotten a flu shot.
Some of you seem to think that people just rush down to the hospital 10 times a week and pop pills like it's candy from a pez dispenser because of UHC. That's not reality.
The reality is that it still costs people money. But if it at any point gets so expensive that you can't afford it, you can ask the government to fund it for you if you can prove your lack of finances.
I do at least appreciate that you think life saving treatments should be "cheap". But rather than cheap, it should be that everyone is guaranteed to be able to afford it.
And the primary reason for why USA healthcare is so expensive is undoubtedly because the government cant negotiate drug prices. How else do you explain that the same US manufactured drugs can be bought for 3-5 times cheaper in Canada? The insurance companies are not behind that.
You will find that there is no answer anyone who isn't supporting UHC has an answer for. For some reason the continue to throw out things like health care equipment, Specialist and other stuff not even understanding that if they ever need any of those expensive tech or specialist that their insurance may not even cover it. Once you are in that hospital room and the doctor tell you that your insurance will not cover this procedure due to price so you get the cheap one that just keep you alive for a month is when you start to ask yourself was this what I signed up for.
As for "Just because some people are doing something doesn't make it the smart or right choice", by "some people" you mean literally everyone else. At least when we're talking industrialized nations. Japan, Australia, UK, Germany, Canada, Finland, Spain, Sweden, etc.
So don't say "some people". Use the actual term. Every other industrialized nation.
What the majority of what people want aside, consider how much money multinational pharmaceutical companies (who top the annual highest grossing charts every year) would spend to convince Americans that they don't deserve what's best for them, when they're allowed to set prices at any rates they chose, which is not a normal thing anywhere else on the planet.
That's not something they'll ever want to let go of.
They have convince the average American that they do what they do for their benefit instead of pure Profit. They also do not tell them that when it comes times to pay for those medical innovations, see if you can afford it or if your insurance will cover it. As long as those people never find themselves needing these innovations they will never understand how silly their stance is.
|
Currently Online 
